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JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
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Contact: JPL/Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
University of Hawaii/Karen Rehbock (808) 956-6829
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 17, 2002
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER 11 MORE SMALL MOONS OF JUPITER
The discovery of 11 small moons orbiting Jupiter leapfrogs the number of that
planet's moons to 39, nine more than the record of the previous champ, Saturn.
A team led by astronomers from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, made the
discovery based on images taken in December 2001 and later follow-up observations.
Orbits were determined by collaborators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in
Pasadena, Calif., and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge,
Mass.
Researchers estimate the new-found natural satellites are each about two to four
kilometers (one to two miles) in diameter, and were probably passing rocks captured by
Jupiter's gravity long ago.
The discovery-team leaders, Scott Sheppard and Dr. David Jewitt of the
University of Hawaii, also discovered 11 other small satellites of Jupiter in 2000.
The new moons were discovered by Sheppard, Jewitt and Jan Kleyna of
Cambridge University, England. They used the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6-meter (142-
inch) telescope with one of the largest digital imaging cameras in the world to obtain
sensitive images of a wide area around Jupiter.
The digital images were processed and searched using computers. Candidate
satellites were monitored in the succeeding months at the University of Hawaii's 2.2-
meter (88-inch) telescope to confirm their orbits and to reject asteroids masquerading as
satellites.
JPL's Dr. Robert Jacobson and Harvard-Smithsonian's Dr. Brian Marsden
determined the satellites' irregular -- highly elongated and tilted -- orbits. All 11 objects
orbit in the direction opposite to the rotation of the planet.
The orbits of the irregular satellites strongly suggest an origin by capture. Since
no efficient contemporary capture mechanisms are known, it is likely that the irregular
satellites were acquired when Jupiter was young, possibly still in the process of
condensing down to its equilibrium size. As yet, nothing is known about their surface
properties, compositions or densities, but they are presumed to be rocky objects like the
asteroids.
The new discoveries bring the known total of Jovian satellites to 39, of which 31
are irregulars. The eight regular satellites include four large moons discovered by the
astronomer Galileo Galilei and four smaller moons on circular orbits closer to Jupiter.
Jupiter's nearest rival for having the largest number of known satellites is Saturn, with 30,
of which 13 are irregular.
The satellites were formally announced by the International Astronomical Union
on Circular No. 7900 (May 16, 2002). More information about them is available online
from the University of Hawaii at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jup.html . Other information about the
Jupiter system is available from JPL at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/jupiter_index.html .
The Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii conducts research into
galaxies, cosmology, stars, planets and the Sun. The Canada-France-Hawaii telescope is
funded by the University of Hawaii and the governments of Canada and France. JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, is NASA's lead center for
robotic exploration of the solar system.
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